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March 24, 2009

The Red Sox are not pinning any of their pennant hopes on the right arms of Brad Penny or John Smoltz, but the team could realize huge benefits from either or both of these low-risk signings.

Penny pitched three strong innings against the Tigers on Monday, his first appearance this spring against major league hitters. He threw only 33 pitches, did not allow a hit, walked one (Gary Sheffield, his 3rd batter of the day) and struck out three. A scout stated that Penny's fastball hit 94 and was consistently around 91-92.

I felt good. It has been a while since I've gone out there and felt good. ... I felt 100 percent. I didn't get to throw many breaking balls, because they were so aggressive swinging early in the count. I would have liked to have worked on my offspeed [pitches] a little more. ...

I think I threw some pitches up 0-and-2. When I'm really throwing well, that's how I pitch. I'll get two strikes and try to elevate the fastball, and today I had that. I felt like (the fastball) had life, like I was throwing pretty hard today.

Smoltz will throw his first bullpen session -- roughly 30-35 pitches -- tomorrow at 9 AM. The Globe, quoting John Farrell: "'I think he could be doing more than he is right now, but by design' the pitcher has been held back to be ready for the second half of the season and for October."

Daisuke Matsuzaka is expected in Fort Myers Wednesday evening. The plan is for him to throw an inning in a minor league game on Friday, then pitch against Atlanta next Tuesday.

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The Globe has the lineups for tonight's game (Tim Wakefield / A.J. Burnett) against the Yankees in Tampa:

75 comments:

I tend to circle this game on the calender as it seems to get a little bit more attention here in spring, but more importantly it seems like we're right around halfway through Spring by the time the Red Sox face the Yankees in Tampa.

Well, the throw was way to the first base side and high, Jeter reached out and caught it and swung the glove down, and it MAY have brushed across Jacoby's helmet as he slid. I was surprised the ump called him out, I don't know how the feet weren't at the bag by the time of the phantom tag anyway. But Jeter did his usual selling of the call and it worked.

Red Sox signed RHP Rocky Cherry to a minor league deal.The Mets offered the Rule 5 pick back to the Orioles last week, but they declined to accept him. The 29-year-old posted a 6.35 ERA in 18 appearances with Baltimore last season.

Oh, you're getting this on a different channel. That explains why you were talking about Duncan when Remy and Don weren't even mentioning him. And how you knew Tito thought it was funny. And how you found the hidden gold!